The reason for his death, which occurred in a Paris hospital, was not communicated by his family, said his agent Sébastien Perrolat.
André Wilms had agreed to several upcoming engagements, he said.
Actor of theater and cinema, director on the boards, André Wilms made himself known to the general public by playing Mr. Le Quesnoy in "Life is a long quiet river" (1988), first film and success in theaters by Étienne Chatiliez, then moviegoers thanks to the tragicomic films of Aki Kaurismäki.
Together they shot "La Vie de bohème" (1992), "The Leningrad Cowboys meet Moïse" (1994), "Juha" (1999), "Le Havre" (2011), "The Other Side of Hope" (2017).
Films marked by lunar characters and poetic dialogues, with a certain tenderness for the characters.
In "Le Havre", André Wilms was a shoe shiner, who reached out to a young African without papers.
The film was awarded the 2011 Louis-Delluc prize, considered the Goncourt of cinema.
"The Other Side of Hope" orchestrated the meeting between a Syrian migrant stranded against his will in the Finnish grayness and a restaurant owner separated from his alcoholic wife.
André Wilms laughed when asked about the operation of a set whose boss does not speak the language: "Great directors don't need to talk! He would say to me: +Play like an old gentleman . Don't run. Don't spill anything+... Everybody's running in movies these days."
"Aki is one of the rare directors who does not take the actors for illiterates, although there are many of them", he said again.
© 2022 AFP